313 MPs take oath as members of 17th Lok Sabha

Led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as many as 313 newly-elected MPs on Monday took oath as members of the 17th Lok Sabha where linguistic diversity of India was on full display.

Slogans like 'Jai Shri Ram' greeted Protem Speaker Virendra Kumar when he took the Chair at 11 am to commence proceedings.

After the customary playing of the national anthem and observance of a minute's silence to mark the occasion, Kumar announced the order in which members would take oath after the Prime Minister, who is also the Leader of the House, would do it first.

Modi was followed by a panel of Chairmen Kodikkunil Suresh (Congress), Brij Bhushan Saran Singh (BJP) and Bhatruhari Mahtab (BJD).

Then came the turn of ministers to take the oath. Deputy Leader of the House Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah followed Modi as did other ministers.

Smriti Ir, who defeated Rahul Gandhi, drew loud cheers as she took the oath while Gandhi preferred to enter the House late afternoon when it was the turn of members from Kerala to do the constitutional duty.

Gandhi was cheered by his party colleagues and others when he did so by solemnly affirmed his loyalty to the Constitution.

His mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was yet to take oath as the turn of members of Uttar Pradesh would come tomorrow.

Several members preferred to take the oath in their mother tongue while a few preferred Sanskrit.

Among them were ministers Harsh Vardhan, an ENT surgeon, Ashwini Kumar Choubey and Pratap Chandra Sarangi.

But there was commotion when the controversial sadhvi-turned politician Pragya Thakur took the oat. Opposition members objected to her bringing in the names of her guru in reading out the oath and concluded it by uttering 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai.'

As protests continued, the Protem Speaker ruled that only what is allowed under the rules will be permitted to go on record.

But BJP members took an offence to the objection by the Opposition members and shouted 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' every time a member took oath after that.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Sadananda Gowda, both hailing from Karnataka, took their oaths in Kannada.

It was a surprise to many when Congress MP Kodikunnil Suresh from Kerala chose to take the oath, not in English or his mother tongue Malayalam, but in Hindi.

Suresh and two other senior members Brajbhushan Saran Singh and Bhartruhari Mahtab have been appointed by the President to be in the panel of chairmen to conduct proceedings till the new Speaker is elected. Singh and Mahtab took oath after Suresh.

MoS in Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh, who hails Jammu and Kashmir, took oath in his mother tongue Dogri.

Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur, who had taken oath in English as Union Minister on May 30, today preferred to take oath in Punjabi. BJP MP from Hoshiarpur Som Prakash also used the same language to take the oath.

Union Cabinet Minister Rameshwar Teli and Kripanath Mallah, and Naba Kumar Saranai took oaths in Assamese.

Raiganj MP Debasree Chaudhuri, who was elected from Raiganj parliamentary constituency in West Bengal took oath in Bengali and Silchar MP Rajdeep Roy also took oath in the same language.

Shiv Sena MP and Cabinet Minister Arvind Sawan used Marathi to take his oath while Union Minister Shripad Yeso Naik used Konk to take the oath.

Lok Sabha MPs elected from Andhra Pradesh Talari Rangaiah, Vanga Geethaviswanath, YS Avinash Reddy, Beesetti Venkata Satyavathi, Adala Prabhakara Reddy, Bellana Chandra Sekhar, Goddeti Madhavi, M V V Satyanarayana, Vanga Geethaviswanath, Marg Bharat, N Reddeppa, Balashowry Vallabbhaneni, Nandigam Suresh and Pocha Brahmananda Reddy all took the oath using Telugu.

Some of their counterparts from Andhra Pradesh took their oath in English.

Kodikunnil Suresh and two other senior members Brajbhushan Saran Singh and Bhartruhari Mahtab were also appointed by the President to be in the panel of chairmen to conduct proceedings till the new Speaker is elected.

( With inputs from ANI )